Tuesday 10 August 2010 12.46 EDT
First published on Tuesday 10 August 2010 12.46 EDT

Channel Five is expected to tell staff tomorrow that Dawn Airey, the chairman and chief executive, is to leave as new owner Richard Desmond begins a radical overhaul of senior management, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.

Airey is expected to move to a management role at Five's former owner, pan-European broadcaster and producer RTL, MediaGuardian.co.uk understands. She is not expected to leave Five for several months.

The broadcaster's staff have been called to a meeting at 10am tomorrow and will be told about Express Newspapers and OK! owner Desmond's plans for the broadcaster, described by one source familiar with the situation as "far reaching".

These are understood to include job cuts and a restructure of Five's management. The future of senior executives including the Five managing director, Mark White, and the director of programmes, Richard Woolfe, is unclear.

The management restructure is expected to include a senior role for Stan Myerson, Desmond's right-hand man and joint managing director of his Northern & Shell media operation.

The scale of cuts among Five's 300 staff is not known, but the source said the focus is "more on the situation with senior management".

One possible RTL role for Airey would be the chief executive job at London-based production subsidiary TalkbackThames, which makes shows including The Apprentice and Britain's Got Talent. The job has been vacant since Lorraine Heggessey left the company in June. Sara Geater, the TalkbackThames chief operating officer, has been handling the role on an interim basis.

In addition to her Five role, Airey has a position on RTL's 20-strong operations management committee, comprised of top executives responsible for the German media company's main businesses across Europe.

Desmond has pledged to top up Five's total budget to about £1.5bn over the next five years, including new investment of £50m to £100m a year to boost programming. He has also said that the equivalent of £20m in media space will be given over to promoting the broadcaster and its shows in a marketing campaign in his newspapers and OK! magazine.

In recent weeks the TV pages of Desmond's titles have been littered with flattering reviews of Five programming, while a number of news stories have taken a particularly negative editorial line against rival broadcaster ITV.

Desmond made his fortune from adult magazines, which he sold in 2004 for £20m, and adult pay-TV channels, which he still owns. He has said Five will not be taken downmarket and that there will be an increase in public service content such as news and current affairs.

He has also pledged to continue with costly deals for shows including CSI and Neighbours, despite Five posting a loss of €41m (£34m) last year thanks in part to €22m in programme writedowns.

Desmond is eyeing up big-name programmes to boost Five's audience and advertising revenue. Endemol's Big Brother has been touted as a good fit when its deal with Channel 4 concludes later this year.

One of Desmond's proposals, which has not been well received by the advertising industry, is to consider selling packages of TV, newspaper and magazine advertising. He is aiming to double Five's share of the TV ad market from 7% to 14% over the next five years.

RTL declined to comment. Northern & Shell and Five had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.

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